


Paper Petals

by pennysparrow



Series: Flower Shop AU [1]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Gen, M/M, Mild Language, Modern Era, kath loves their snapchat group chat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 11:46:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14080224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennysparrow/pseuds/pennysparrow
Summary: When Katherine has to cover the flower show for The Sun the last thing she expects is to meet a cute girl.





	Paper Petals

**Author's Note:**

> So I literally grew up in a flower shop and have noticed across fandoms that people don't really know what it's like to work as a florist. That prompted a rant to @super-spoiler on tumblr that turned into the idea for this fic! So yeah, all of Kath's experiences at the flower show and what Sarah says about the shop are based on my own. Kath's reporting is also based on my own time spent working for a local paper and editor for my college paper.

Katherine was currently regretting agreeing to trade an article with Darcy, an article of his choice no less, when she had last minute decided to go on that weekend trip with the boys to the Poconos the month before. While he was covering an emergency session of city council to resolve a potential strike by the city’s waste management union, she had been laughing at Racetrack as he repeatedly fell on his butt trying to snowboard. Now, when Denton had been desperate for a writer, any writer, to cover the flower show Darcy had gotten the short straw and he subsequently decided to cash in on the favor she owed him.

When Darcy immediately switched assignments with Kath, a little too gleefully in her opinion even if he was her oldest and closest friend, Denton at least had the good sense to look guilty. It didn’t stop the editor from dropping a list of contacts and the press passes for the flower show onto her desk though. Kath had slid them closer to herself with a sigh. She pulled her phone out and sent a snapchat of the two passes that read “2018 Manhattan Flower and Garden Show – PRESS” in bold block letters to the groupchat she had with the boys.

Darcy sat himself on her desk and smirked down at the pair of passes. “Don’t you dare look so darn smug mister,” she warned him with a glare, though there was little heat behind either her words or her look.

“You owe me,” he reminded her with a raised eyebrow and the corners of his mouth twitching up.

Kath felt her shoulders slump. “You know how bad my allergies are.” If there was a hint of a whine in her voice, then maybe Darcy should know better and reconsider.

Darcy’s smirk turned into a slight frown as he reached out a hand and rested it on her shoulder. “I’m sorry Kath, I know. I really wouldn’t have passed it off to you if I wasn’t hosting my parents all weekend.”

“Oh shoot. That’s this weekend? I completely forgot, I’m sorry,” Kath’s eyes widened as her mouth ran a mile a minute.

“Relax, it’s fine,” Darcy chuckled. “You still coming for dinner Sunday?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. And I’m sorry for whining at you, I’m more than happy to take this off of your hands,” Kath grinned, pulling him in for a quick hug.

“Thank you, Katherine,” he said sincerely. Darcy walked back over to his own desk, finally plugging his laptop back in after their staff meeting.

She waved him off and went to plug in her own. While she waited for her computer to log in Kath checked her phone. Four snapchat notifications, one from each of the boys in their chat not-so-creatively titled _Record of Racetrack’s Dumb Shit_.

The first one was from Jack, it was a picture of his scuffed and paint splattered Doc Martens with “Already helping Medda. Sorry Ace.”

Next was Spot; his was just a black screen with “FUCK NO” in red taking up the whole thing. Kath snorted, she expected nothing less from him.

Race’s was a short video of a selfie of him with his eyebrows quirked, immediately followed by him rapidly shaking his head.

Last was Crutchie, she crossed her fingers that he wouldn’t already have plans. If he did she could always ask Bill, or even one of the other boys from their extended friend group. The new guy that Crutchie kept bringing along from their weekend frisbee games was pretty nice. Not to mention it was more than a little entertaining watching Jack get all flustered and put his foot in his mouth around him. Knowing Crutchie that was part of the reason the new guy kept getting invited along.

She smiled as she read his snap; a picture of the shoes of the person he was in line behind at Starbucks and the caption “Since the rest of our friends are jerks I’d be happy to go with you.” Immediately followed by a selfie of him smirking and the words “And enjoy all the perks that come with a press pass.”

She took a stealthy selfie, though Darcy’s snort said he definitely caught her, and messaged the group. “Charlie Morris you are the BEST human and I love you with all my heart!!!”

She quickly exited the app before the scandalized and snarky replies could come in, putting her phone facedown on her desk. She then pulled the list of contacts towards her and opened up a new document. Taking the receiver of her desk’s phone and wedging it between her ear and shoulder Katherine set about calling the first shop on the list, seeing about setting up a time to meet with them during the event and asking about photography permissions. By the end of the afternoon she had interviews set up with five different shops who were creating displays and running the demonstrations as well as a rough outline of what she wanted the article to look like. She was mocking up interview questions for the florists and spectators that she was hoping would talk to her when Denton tapped on her desk.

“Afternoon Bryan,” Katherine smiled up at her editor, stilling her fingers from running over her keyboard and finishing the sentence she had been typing.

“Am I interrupting something?” He asked with a slight frown.

She waved him off. “Nope. What’s up?”

“I know that you switched assignments with Darcy this weekend-”

“His parents are in town,” Kath cut him off, afraid that Denton would have them switch back. Not that he ever had before, but still.

“I wasn’t going to make you trade back. It’s fine,” Denton chuckled. “I wouldn’t have given you those earlier if I was.” He pointed to the press passes still sitting out on her desk. Katherine laughed nervously and scratched at her ear as Denton continued. “No, I just wanted to let you know that Entertainment is sending a photographer so you can just focus on the interviews. No need to worry about pictures.”

“Oh! Great! Thank you,” Katherine smiled, glad she didn’t have to dig her DSLR out of her closet like she was going to.

“No problem. And I know this isn’t the type of story you’re used to, but I really appreciate you doing this. I’m sure that it’s going to be great, as usual.”

Kath was positively beaming at that, Denton never gave compliments that weren’t sincere. “Thank you, I will give this the same attention as any other piece.”

Denton nodded at her with a smile. He turned around briefly as he was walking back to his office. “Oh, and Katherine? Try to have some fun? There’s two passes, take a friend and go all out on lunch at the food trucks. If you bring me your receipts I’ll see that you’re reimbursed.”

Katherine was left staring at his back in shock. She quickly grabbed her phone, her last half-written interview question now forgotten. Kath swiped at the screen and ignored the snaps waiting for her, sending one of Darcy where he was doubled over his desk from witnessing her interaction with Denton and “YOUR GIRL IS BEING COMPLETELY REIMBURSED FOR THIS!!! DENTON JUST SAID THAT I’M TO HAVE FUN!!!”

No one was exactly excited despite this, though she was dreading it a little less.

Saturday rolled around and Katherine met Crutchie outside of his and Jack’s apartment, stomping her feet to ward off the cold despite the fact that is was now officially Spring. Crutchie nudged her shoulder with his own as he came out the door and grinned.

“Alright, do you have your phone?” He asked, a wicked glint in his eyes.

Katherine rolled her own eyes as she sighed. She took Crutchie with her once on an assignment when still interning in Entertainment and hadn’t realized until they got there that she hadn’t grabbed a pen or notebook, instead relying on her phone to record quotes. Normally this was great because then Kath could transcribe the entire interview word for word. This time though they had been at an open mic night in a crowded coffee shop and the recordings ended up a garbled mess. The article had been _horrible_ and now Crutchie never let her live it down.

“Yes, I have my phone.” Katherine pulled it out of her coat pocket for proof.

“Mmhmm. Notebook?”

“Yes.”

“Pen?”

“Yes.”

“Camera?”

“They’re sending someone.”

“Schnazzy,” he said and waggled his eyebrows, causing Katherine to snort. “Press passes?”

“Yup!” Kath patted her purse where they and her notebook where safely stored.

“Allergy medicine?”

“Took some this morning and I’ve got more in my bag.”

Crutchie nodded, letting go of the handle of one of his elbow crutches as he fished for something in his coat pocket. “I also brought you a present. It’s from both me and Jack.”

She raised an eyebrow at the newspaper wrapped box that he handed her. Tearing it open Kath shot her friend a dry look. “You’re the worst. You complain about Race so much when _you’re_ really the most terrible person. You _and_ Jack.”

Crutchie just grinned as she stuffed the box of extra strength children’s Benadryl in her purse. She shook her head as they headed towards the subway, Crutchie still giggling beside her.

“I want you to know I am going to use it. As soon as I get home I’m going to take some and p-t-f-o.”

“I’d hope you would,” Crutchie cast her a sideways glance, “that stuff’s expensive!”

“The lengths you’ll go to for a good laugh,” Katherine said dryly.

“Oh. you have no idea.”

Kath was thankful that Crutchie was accompanying her, the subway ride and walk to the convention center had been filled with lighthearted teasing and talk of their week of work. Crutchie had been animatedly telling her a story about his boss getting sent a college a Capella group to wish him a happy anniversary from his wife of five years. Kath couldn’t stop giggling and thanking her lucky stars that even with as dramatic as Jack was that he hadn’t tried anything that embarrassing when they had been dating. They were still laughing as Crutchie detailed his coworkers’ reactions as the topiaries in front of the convention center came into view. They paused next to one so she could pull the press passes out of her bag and hand one to Crutchie before slipping her own over her neck. They were waved inside easily and a young woman approached them at the bag check.

“Are you folks from _The Sun_?” She asked with a perky smile.

“Sure are! Katherine Plumber, nice to meet you,” Kath extended her hand, flashing the other woman her best professional smile. They shook and the girl turned to Crutchie.

“Charlie Morris,” he grinned and extended his own hand. The girl glanced at his elbow crutches once but continued to grin and shake his hand. Kath felt herself release a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, not that Crutchie wasn’t more than capable of taking care of himself, Katherine just had a habit of verbally sparring on all her friends’ behalves. It was obvious that wasn’t going to be necessary today as the two were already chattering, the girl was apparently looking into buying a new set of crutches herself and was curious what his were since she couldn’t remember seeing something quite like them before. Which she hadn’t, they were one of a kind thanks to Race who, as an engineer, had designed them back in college when they all met and Spot, who could build practically anything, joined forces to make them. It had been a delightful Christmas when they presented the finished, custom-made set to Crutchie.

Kath stood there smirking as the girl blushed and Crutchie recounted her with the tale of their friends’ gift. The girl giggled as he ended his story, “Sounds like you’ve got some great friends. Um, yeah. So, I can take your coats? We have a little room over here for all the staffs’ and you’re welcome to use it so you can focus on your job and not carrying your coat around.” She laughed and gave a smile.

Katherine shrugged her coat off and began unwinding her scarf, she resettled her bag over her shoulder and passed her winter gear over. Crutchie did the same and they followed the girl into what looked like a closet that had a coat rack shoved into it where their coats were being hung up. Halfway between the coat room and the bag check sat a security guard who, they were told, made sure only people with staff or press passes would be allowed in so that Kath and Crutchie didn’t have to worry about a thing.

Once they were thanked again for coming the pair began wandering through the displays. Kath had picked up a map and was smirking over at Crutchie. “Boy was she flirting with you.”

“Nah, she was just curious. Really nice about it though.”

“Charlie,” Kath gave him a look. “She was blushing.”

Crutchie just shrugged and turned his attention to the huge display of tropical flowers. “So what’s the plan of attack?” he asked, pulling his phone out and taking a picture of the Bird of Paradise that was eye-level with him.

“Take a loop, see where all my interviews are and enjoy the sights a little. Talk to some of the other spectators for some quotes and reactions, then first official interview at eleven with a Sarah Jacobs of Petal Peddlers. According to my research they’re a small, family owned shop but one of the oldest in the city and a staple of the show.”

“Wow, look at you, doing your research, being a reporter. I’m so proud,” Crutchie said sarcastically, turning his phone to take a picture of her glower. “Oh that is going in the groupchat.”

Katherine rolled her eyes and poked him in the side, making him squirm slightly because she knew exactly where he was most ticklish. Once he swatted at her shoulder in half-hearted revenge they began to walk further into the flower show. Katherine had pulled out her notepad and was scribbling down details of the different displays they passed, asking the different volunteers and florists that were stationed at them about the different flowers and how the displays were structured (chicken-wire for many) and how the flowers got water (some had individual water-tubes on their stems, most were in a special foam that held water) and about a thousand different things. She did promise Denton that she would take this as seriously as any other assignment.

After their first slow loop of the show Crutchie made her pause at the tables of crafts for the kids, sitting himself down and pulling over a coloring sheet and box of crayons.

“What’re you doing?” Katherine giggled. She dug in her purse for a tissue as he seriously considered a purple crayon.

“Proving to Jack that he’s not the only artist in the apartment. This is going on the fridge, Plumber.”

Katherine snorted. “Okay,” she rolled her eyes but never stopped smiling. There was a decent crowd and the hall echoed with voices, though not loud enough that they had to raise their own when chatting. “Do you mind if I go get some quotes?”

“Course not, you’re on the clock; I’m here for the free food, great Instagram pictures, and coloring,” Crutchie held up his paper with a grin. “Also, the education value. Make sure you play that up in your article, _education value_ , it’s what all the signs are practically screaming.” He pointed out the fun facts that littered the corner they were in.

“We’re also in the kids’ section,” she reminded him. Crutchie just shrugged and went back to his coloring. She tugged his beanie down lightly before turning and heading to find someone who might be willing to talk to her.

A half hour later and Kath was back at the kids’ area, she had gotten a cup of water from the girl they had met when they first came in and used it to wash down another allergy pill. Her nose had been getting increasingly stuffy and her eyes had started watering halfway through her last interview. Crutchie looked up from his incredibly detailed coloring as she sank into the chair next to him. The little kid on his other side peered around him and looked her up and down. “You sick lady?”

Crutchie pressed his lips together to keep from laughing, watching Kath out of the corner of his eye. She sighed and wiped at her nose with a tissue. “Allergies.”

“Then why’re you at a flower show?” The kid pressed.

“Work,” she said simply.

The kid seemed to think this was an acceptable answer and went back to his own coloring. “So how’d it go?” Crutchie asked, signing his work with a metallic silver crayon.

“Good, I got some really great quotes for my article. Met this really sweet couple.”

“That’s good,” Crutchie smiled. “I made this really awesome art.”

Katherine rolled her eyes but smiled, the line art of a vegetable garden was almost realistically colored. Or as close as with only Crayola crayons at his disposal. “This is really good,” Kath said, genuinely impressed.

Crutchie took it back and folded it neatly before sticking it in the front pocket of Katherine’s purse. “Ya spend most of your life around Jack the starving artist and you pick up a few things. Mostly that you’re also starving.”

Kath just shook her head and checked the time on her phone. “I need to go start my interviews, you want to tag along or are you going to stay here?”

“I’ll come with. Be good kiddo,” he said to the little boy who was too focused to answer, or just didn’t care. Crutchie just shrugged and followed after Kath to the small booth that was set up by Petal Peddlers behind the display they had designed. They had some of their employees there designing arrangements and answering questions from the small crowd that had gathered to watch.

Katherine and Crutchie waited near the back of the crowd as the girl behind the table cut the stems of a bunch of roses and talked through the fact that she was cutting them at an angle, so they would get more water, for the crowd’s benefit. Kath was mildly surprised to see that she looked about the same age as they were, though she spoke with the knowledge and authority of someone who’d been in the industry for decades. She finished up the arrangement and wiped her hand on the front of her apron before flicking her long brown braid over her shoulder and swiping at some of the fly-aways that framed her face.

“If you’d like to take this home we’ll be auctioning off the arrangements made throughout the day on the main stage at three o’clock. All proceeds go towards reforestation efforts both here in the U.S. and in South America where most of our product comes from. Thanks all for watching and I hope you have a great rest of your day!” She waved cheerily, and the crowd began to disperse.

Kath and Crutchie stayed put rather than push against the press of people going in the opposite direction. A teenaged boy came out from the curtained area behind the table and grabbed the vase of flowers, nodding as the girl presumably told him where to put it. She then grabbed a rag and began wiping off the table; brushing stems, leaves, and fallen petals into a pile before grabbing a box off the ground and brushing everything into it. She stuffed the rag and her clippers into a pocket on the front of her apron before looking up and seeing Katherine and Crutchie still standing there.

Kath felt her face heat up at the other girl’s attention, now that she got a good look at her she could see exactly how pretty the girl was and it was a little distracting. Crutchie must have noticed because she heard him chuckle and then felt him push her towards the table.

“Can I help you?” she asked them with a small smile.

Katherine cleared her throat before speaking, not quite trusting her voice right now. “I’m Katherine Plumber, of _The New York Sun_. I’m here to interview Sarah Jacobs?”

“That’s me, nice to meet you,” Sarah reached a hand over the table and Kath shook it, hopping her own wasn’t sweaty. She was surprised by the other girl’s strong grip and the calluses on her hand. Katherine may have held on a little too long though, because when they finally let go Sarah was starting to blush and she wasn’t meeting Katherine’s eyes. Kath mentally kicked herself, she was working she couldn’t be getting distracted by pretty girls. Even if Sarah was really pretty and wow, Kath was way too bi for this. And to think she made fun of Jack for the same exact thing.

Next to her Crutchie cleared his throat and held out his own hand. “Hi, Charlie Morris. I’m just here for the lunch I was promised.”

Sarah laughed at that, throwing her head back a little as she did so. “Fair enough. Nice to meet you both. So, how can I help? We can go in the back if you want? There’s a couple chairs back there and then you don’t have to worry about water puddles.” She gestured at the ones still on the table, despite her earlier efforts at wiping it off.

Katherine nodded. “Sure, that’s fine. Whatever works for you.”

Sarah nodded and motioned for them to follow her. They ducked behind the curtain and were met with buckets of flowers. They were scattered all over the floor, though upon closer inspection Kath thought there might be a system of some sort. There was another table back there with a couple of chairs and a large cooler like you might see in a restaurant was pressed against the wall. The teenage boy from earlier had sat himself in the corner made by the side of the cooler and the wall, curled up on his coat on the ground and messing around on his phone.

The three all took a seat and Sarah glanced over at the boy. “Les, come say hi.” His head popped up and after a second he was standing next to the table. “This is my little brother Les, he’s in tenth grade this year and is going to be a professional baseball player rather than a flower shop owner,” there was a note of teasing in Sarah’s voice as she said this and Les rolled his eyes.

“Hi, are you the folks from the paper?”

Katherine smiled at him. “Yep, Katherine Plumber of _The Sun_.”

“I’m still here because she said she’d buy me lunch,” Crutchie smiled at the kid who laughed. “Charlie Morris.”

Katherine rolled her eyes and opened her mouth but Les beat her to a response. “That’s the same bribe my parents use to get me here!”

Now it was Sarah’s turn to roll her eyes. “Speaking of, where are Mom and Dad?”

“They ran back to the shop to pick up some more tape. Said that you’re more than capable of giving an interview by yourself.”

Sarah shrugged and watched as Les settled himself next to Crutchie who had started asking the younger boy about his interest in baseball. Kath pulled out her notebook and pen from where she had stuffed it into her purse earlier. She began to open up the voice recorder app on her phone when she glanced at Sarah. “Do you mind if I record this? Just so I don’t misquote you.”

“Course,” Sarah said with a slight wave of her hand. “That means you’re going to have to stop talking for five minutes,” she said to her brother who just shrugged and rose to his feet.

“There’s a kids’ area we can go hang out in for a while if I’m being kicked out,” Les aimed the statement at Crutchie but the last bit was obviously for his sister’s benefit.

“Yes Les you are. Now shoo.”

Crutchie laughed and rose to follow Les, glancing between Kath and Sarah and waggling his eyebrows at Kath. “I already found that actually but I’m not dumb enough to turn down coloring and baseball.”

With that the boys left and Kath shot a glare at Crutchie’s back before schooling her features into a semblance of professionalism and turning back to Sarah.

“So I just have some questions about the shop, the role you play in putting together the show, what set up is like, that sort of thing,” Kath said as she tapped the record button and picked up her pen.

“Alright, so what’s first?” Sarah asked with an easy smile and Kath’s heart really needed to calm down because this was not the time to be fawning over someone she had just met.

“Can you tell me about yourself? Your name, the shop you work at, how long you’ve been in the industry.”

“Sure,” Sarah answered smoothly. “So my name is Sarah Jacobs, I’m the assistant manager at Petal Peddlers and I’ve been in the floral industry my whole life.”

“Really?” Katherine prompted. She found the best interviews were just conversations and she was really enjoying talking to Sarah. Even if it was just the first question.

“Yeah, actually,” she chuckled. “I grew up in the shop. So my parents actually own Petal Peddlers and it’s been in the family since it opened. We’re actually coming up on our hundred and fifteenth anniversary next year.”

Katherine blinked. “Wow. That’s impressive. So you’re what, sixth generation?”

“Fifth actually. And yeah, we’re pretty excited. We own the whole building and my family has been living in the apartments above the shop since they bought the building. Right now it’s my parents and Les and my grandparents who have the two apartments, I’ve got a loft in Alphabet City, but as soon as my grandparents finally get tired of the three flights of stairs my twin brother and I are flipping a coin to see who gets it. We’ve been paying our own rent since college and working for your parents means you definitely get above minimum but not having roommates would be nice,” she trailed off with a laugh.

“So you weren’t kidding about growing up in the shop.”

“Nope,” Sarah said with a shake of her head. Katherine’s eye caught on the way Sarah’s braid moved at that and she had to remind herself to take notes as the other girl kept talking. “I’ve been sweeping the floors since I could walk it feels like and as soon as we were old enough my brothers and I were all taught how to run the register. Explains why we’re all so good at math. Not to mention all the buckets I’ve scrubbed. I’ve been designing my whole life but I was officially hired as a designer for them my junior year of high school. I actually just got the assistant manager promotion and I’ve been out of grad school for a year now,” she laughed.

“So are there a lot of employees?”

“We’re not a big shop but we have a pretty good reputation in the city which means we’re always busy; so we’ve got six designers, plus my parents and myself. And we hire seasonal help for the register and phones, plus Les and my other brother who does the books and gets put on front counter duty all the time. Great guy, awful florist,” Sarah laughed, using her hands to try and express exactly how bad her brother was.

Katherine laughed with her, scribbling about their reputation as she used it to formulate her next question. “So are you the oldest shop in the city? Do you get a lot of large orders?”

“I don’t know if we’re the oldest shop in the city but we’re definitely one of them. That means we’re pretty well known and we always have quality product. Our biggest orders are normally weddings, we’ve done some really awesome ones over the years.”

“Why do you think customers keep coming to you, even after all these years?”

“Well, this is actually really sweet,” Sarah bit her lip a little before launching into her next story. “We have some regulars who have been buying from us for generations. Like this one guy comes in every Friday on his way home to pick up a little bouquet for his boyfriend, and he does it because his dad did it for his mom and his dad’s dad did it for his mom. And they still do, it’s cute when him and his dad and grandfather, who started coming to our shop in the first place in the fifties, all overlap each other when they come in on a Friday.”

Kath smiled at that, noting the cute story and the time stamp it was on the recording for use in her article.

“I think that they come in because they know they’re going to get gorgeous flowers that are going to last, with great customer service. Like I said, we’re family owned and operated, and we have been forever, we know our customers. Plus, there’s something about the attention you get at a small business that you’re just not going to get elsewhere, and people know that.”

Katherine nodded. “That makes sense. So the flower show? What’s the shop’s role?”

“Petal Peddlers is the shop to participate the longest in the show,” Sarah sounded proud. “We participated the first year we opened, back in 1904, and have been ever since. Nowadays we meet with the other organizers and decide a theme for the next year, that happens exactly one month after the show ends, and get started reaching out to different sponsors and new shops. We’ve been doing a big push for environmental education the past couple years and adding more interactive displays. That’s my fault, I’ve got a masters in botany that I need to put to use somehow,” Sarah chuckled and Kath filed that fact away in the back of her mind. The girl wasn’t just pretty and funny, she was also wicked smart. “So since I organize all the educational stuff, Petal Peddlers spearheads that whole section of the show. As you saw earlier we do demonstrations, all the shops participating are asked to do so, but we also have speakers come in and the garden centers and greenhouses have a conservation practices area set up.”

“Yeah, I saw that. It’s really neat,” Katherine said with a smile.

“Thanks,” Sarah said, pride in her work be recognizing evident in her expression. “Oh, and of course we make a display. That takes about a month’s worth of planning alone and we spend the entire night with the whole staff putting it together on Thursday with finishing touches on Friday just before we open so that everything stays fresh.”

“Do you mind telling me a little more about what the set-up is like?”

“Yeah, sure,” Sarah then launched into a detailed description of the event’s planning and all the moving pieces that went into actually putting the thousands of flowers into the large space. By the end of it Kath had over an hour of conversation recorded on her phone and six pages of notes. The boys came back then, Les bringing two baskets of tacos with him and telling Sarah that their parents were grabbing their own and would be over in a few minutes.

Kath thanked Sarah for her time, packing her things away. She made to say goodbye and head back out to the main floor with Crutchie, who was not so subtly hinting that he wanted tacos too, when Sarah stopped her.

“Here,” she handed Kath a stalk of tiny pink flowers and a business card. “Wax Flowers,” Sarah nodded at them and Kath tucked them into her auburn hair with a smile. “And that’s in case you want to see the shop, you should stop in sometime.”

Kath returned the smile and slipped the card into her bag. “Thanks, I think I will. It was nice to meet you.” With that she and Crutchie slipped back out of the curtains and headed to get their coats for lunch from the food trucks lined up in front of the convention center.

He elbowed her in the side as they walked. “So?”

“So what?”

“So how is she? I mean, c’mon Kath, could you be anymore obvious?”

Katherine rolled her eyes. “She’s great, it was a fantastic interview.”

“Uh huh,” Crutchie wasn’t buying it.

“Do you want lunch or not?” She half-heartedly threatened.

He glared at her for a second. “You’re not getting out of this that easily.”

“Whatever,” Kath would’ve tossed her hair over her shoulder if it hadn’t all been piled into a bun on top of her head. They got some top-notch street food and made their way back into the show. Katherine finished her interviews and splurged for a cab to take Crutchie and then her home, even if Denton was only going to pay her back for their lunch than she wasn’t losing any extra money on the fee. She’d taken three allergy pills over the course of the day and now really needed to write this article so it could be printed in the next morning’s paper and she could take the Benadryl that Crutchie and Jack had so thoughtfully bought for her before falling asleep and hopefully waking up allergy free. The cab was going to get her to that point a whole lot faster.

She waved goodbye to Crutchie when they dropped him off, promising to meet him and the boys after their usual game of frisbee for lunch the next day. When she pushed in the door to her own apartment Kath let herself fall through the heavy door. Dropping her keys in their bowl and putting her coat on its hook, she nudged the apartment door back closed. Katherine set her bag on her desk and flopped into her chair, waiting for her laptop to wake up. When it did she opened up the blog site they used for submitting articles and set to work typing in a headline. Rummaging through her purse she pulled out her notes and headphones, typing out the quotes she would be using and building the rest of the piece around it.

Katherine had worked right through dinner and her stomach growled loudly when she finished one last proofread at nine o’clock. Saving the draft and sending the link off to Denton, she shut her laptop and wandered towards where she knew there was leftover Chinese food in the fridge. Kath was proud of the article, it was by no means her best work but it was a decent piece. If she favored Sarah a little more in it than the other florists that she interviewed it was only because Sarah gave some great quotes. No one could fault her for that.

Kath finished her Chinese food and went to grab a shower before putting on her pajamas and heading to bed. She grabbed the Benadryl that she had been gifted and took some before collapsing into bed and falling asleep.

When she woke up the next morning there was a text from Denton on her phone. He had thanked her and reminded her to bring any expense receipts in on Tuesday, that the article was excellent and since she had worked all day Saturday on it she was getting Monday off. Kath smiled and pushed herself out of bed. She was now allergy free and ready to spend the morning lounging around her apartment before spending the afternoon with the boys and the evening with Darcy and his family.

Kath put her coffee on and went to collect her morning papers from where they collected in front of her door. As a reporter she was obligated to subscribe to her own and thought that reading the competition was enlightening. While the environmentalist in her cringed every time she recycled the old issues, though she did always recycle them, something about having a physical copy was always better than any of the online additions.

She flipped open her copy of _The Sun_ and sat down at the kitchen table with her cup of coffee. Katherine was pleasantly surprised to see that her article had run on the front page of the entertainment section, Denton had neglected to mention that in his text. Katherine sipped her coffee as her phone dinged, Jack had snapchatted their group; which at some point the night before had been renamed _the fuck do i put up with this shit for_ , most likely by Spot. It was a video of the front page of _The Sun_ ’s entertainment section with a slow zoom onto her byline. The caption read “I KNOW HER”. Kath snorted into her coffee mug.

Another snap came in immediately after, a selfie of him and a very unawake Crutchie with their faces pressed together. Jack was grinning brightly while Crutchie was glaring at his brother out of the corner of his eye. “Seriously Ace we’re both v proud rn.”

Kath sent back a picture of her half empty mug and a simple “Thanks” with a heart. They would all be heading off to Central Park soon so she knew the next couple hours would be blissfully shenanigan free.

Kath had pulled on her nicest pair of jeans with a pale sweater and scarf once she had binge watched half a season of Gotham and really needed to change out of her pajamas to go for lunch. She let her thick auburn curls just lay where they fell and went searching for her combat boots. The current cold snap was unexpected so her warmer shoes had been shoved back under her bed in favor of flats and loafers. Finding them she shoved them on and practically threw herself out the door.

She ran up the steps from the subway, squinting momentarily at the sudden brightness. Katherine checked the time on her phone before setting off towards Jacobi’s. The boys were already there, six of them shoved into a booth in the corner. It seemed that Albert had been dragged along by Race today and that Crutchie had again invited the new guy. Likely for everyone’s entertainment as Jack floundered around him. Spot saw her first and waved as she walked over, shoving Race out of the booth so that he was forced to pull over a chair for her. He also then slid over slightly himself, causing Race to have to get his own chair too as the rest of them had all spread out slightly thanks to the newfound room.

Racetrack glared at his boyfriend, but Spot was wholly unaffected. “You really think we were gonna be able to eat like that?” Spot asked dryly.

“No but the least you could have done was ask me first,” Race fired back. This started the pair bickering with Albert chiming in occasionally to goad one or the other.

Katherine smiled as she settled her coat on the back of her chair and sat down. “Katherine! You remember Davey, right?” Crutchie said, gesturing to the boy who was squished between himself and Jack.

“Of course, glad that you could join us,” Katherine smiled brilliantly, settling her elbows on the table as she leaned in towards them. “So who’s buying me lunch?”

Jack frowned and Crutchie’s lips twitched towards a grin before he bit them to prevent Jack from seeing his betrayal. Davey looked utterly lost though, especially when he glanced at Katherine and noticed what she knew to be her look of wicked delight.

“Spot’s team won,” Jack grumbled.

“Delightful!” Kath beamed and settled herself back in the chair, waving one of the waitresses over.

“Why is that a good thing?” Davey asked, glancing between her and Jack. Next to him Crutchie was slowly losing his fight with not laughing.

“Because, whenever Jack and Spot are the captains and Race plays on Spot’s team then the person whose team lost buys me lunch,” Katherine informed him gleefully.

“That seems ridiculously over complicated,” Davey blinked, still puzzling it over.

“Nah, Jack and Spot are always captains but sometimes Race feels like competing _with_ Spot instead of _against_ him, which is rare, in which case the odds of who is gonna win change and then Kath gets treated to lunch as a penalty for the loser,” Crutchie explained.

“But why doesn’t the losing captain just buy the winning captain lunch?”

“To keep us from cheating,” Jack finally jumped in, momentarily done sulking.

“Ok,” Davey said slowly, the weird agreement finally starting to make some semblance of sense. “But why buy you lunch? No offense.”

Katherine laughed. “None taken. Because when they started this whole thing back in college Jack and I were dating and I’d befriended all these nerds but refused to play. I am way too uncoordinated for that. So I was an unaffiliated third party who they all agreed could benefit from it.”

She noticed that Davey’s eyes widened at the mention of her and Jack having dated, maybe Jack’s crush wasn’t as one-sided as she and Crutchie had been assuming. He recovered quickly though and continued talking. “I still don’t quite understand it,” he admitted.

“Neither do I! I told them that they didn’t need to be buying me lunch but they refused to listen,” Kath shook her head and smirked.

“We were trying to be gentleman,” Spot interjected, apparently done with teasing Racetrack.

“Spot, you’re not only gay, so there was zero reason for you to try and impress me; you’re also the one person who cares the least about what other people think,” Katherine pointed out.

“And Jacky-boy is bisexual as hell and was already dating you, what’s your point?” Spot fired back. “Plus, you’re the one whose daddy’s loaded and yet you still let us buy you lunch.”

Katherine laughed and rolled her eyes. “I tried to stop you if you remember. And you know how I was about my dad, I didn’t want people knowing we were related and professionally still don’t. It’s not my fault that you two never backed down and it took a couple months before you all figured it out.”

Jack waved a finger, trying to interject and not forget the point he wanted to make. “In Kath’s defense I’d say that she has more than made up for it.”

“He’s right Spotty, she’s been buying the winner lunch ever since. If anything, you and Jack have gotten a really great deal and it’s the rest of us who’re getting screwed over,” Race said as he clapped Spot on the shoulder.

Davey joined in laughing with the others, the waitress finally coming over to take their drink orders. The rest of the meal went really well and Jack only became overly flustered around Davey twice. Katherine found herself enjoying Davey’s dry wit and could easily see the two becoming fast friends. When they all parted ways she impulsively gave him a hug and her number, “Incase you ever want to hang out without these dorks incessant yelling.”

He chuckled at that. “I may just have to take you up on that offer,” he said and waved as he walked away. Race had brought his car with as he was heading to Brooklyn for the night and offered to drop Katherine off at Darcy’s. She thanked him but waved him off, his apartment was only a few blocks from the deli and it wasn’t too terribly cold so she was going to walk. She gave them all one last hug before heading off.

Her evening with Darcy and his parents had been nice. They were practically her own parents at this point but since they’d moved to California she rarely saw them. Katherine could tell that Darcy was happy they had come, even if they kept asking about when he was going to find someone to settle down with like his sister had. When Katherine had given them both hugs before leaving Mr. Reid had given her money for a cab, insisting that she take it when she tried to refuse and having to promise to text Darcy that she was home as soon as she got into her apartment. She could see him rolling his eyes behind them but Kath agreed, it was sweet that they were worrying over her.

So Kath did as asked and informed Darcy that she had gotten home safely. She then put her pajamas and went to brush her teeth, they had wine with dinner and if she didn’t do it now she’d forget and hate herself for the taste in her mouth when she woke up. Staring down at her sink Katherine’s eyes caught on the stem of flowers that she had laid there when getting into the shower the night before. The needle-like leaves had browned some and many where scattered on her bathroom counter but the tiny pink flowers seemed intact. Katherine smiled at it and suddenly an idea of how to spend her Monday off came to mind, she could only hope that she didn’t chicken out overnight.

Waking up the next morning Kath put on the playlist that Spot had made for her; filled with Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and Green Day he had dubbed it her hype music. It certainly had that effect on her as Kath pulled on her cutest long-sleeved dress and riding boots. She braided her hair and tugged and wound an oversized scarf around her neck. On impulse, Katherine swiped on some makeup and nodded at herself in the mirror. Sarah had seen her in her work clothes, black jeans with a flowing blouse and blazer; the girl staring back at her who came off less uptight was casual Kath. Ok, that was a lie, this was “I think you’re really really pretty and awesome and I’m hoping to get you to think the same about me” Kath.

She grabbed the business card Sarah had given her – even though she’d already programmed the address into her phone the night before – as she marched out the door. Kath had the entertainment section of the day before’s _Sun_ tucked under her arm and was planning on using it as an excuse to see Sarah. She had found the shop easily and was formulating her speech as she stepped inside.

Katherine’s train of thought completely derailed once she was inside the shop. All she could do was stand just inside the doorway and stare around in wonder. The space was filled with bright sunlight filtering in through the large picture window. Immediately in front of her was a wrought iron baker’s rack filled and overflowing with houseplants. There were shelves with small displays of brightly colored silk arrangements and jewel toned vases and smiling stuffed animals. A wooden beam in the ceiling had been given a bundle of branches, making it take on the appearance of a tree limb running through the middle of the shop from which wind chimes and sparkling crystals hung. There were wreaths on one wall and garden signs and decorations tucked into corners. A bucket filled with ready made bouquets stood next to the counter the cash register sat on. Katherine’s attention was constantly being attracted by something else and she couldn’t help but inhale deeply, which made her think the shop was even more magical as she took in the rich scent of fresh flowers.

“Katherine?” A familiar voice asked, shaking her from her awe.

She walked over to the counter and blinked in surprise, behind the register stood Davey. She opened her mouth to say something but got distracted by the large glass doored cooler behind him that was filled with buckets of flowers and arrangements ready to be picked up.

“Can I help you?” he tried again, and Katherine was again surprised to see Davey standing there.

Shaking her head slightly, Katherine finally managed to focus. “Sorry, it’s a lot to take in.”

Davey gave her a small smile and chuckled. “Yeah, we get that a lot.”

“I didn’t know that you worked here.”

“Yeah,” Davey nodded, his smile growing. “It’s my parent’s place. My siblings and I are technically fifth generation.”

“You’re Sarah’s twin!” Katherine may have been a little too excited by the realization, especially judging by Davey’s look of mild concern and complete confusion. “I interviewed her for _The Sun_ on Saturday and I was just coming to make sure that she got a copy of the article,” Kath explained quickly, setting the paper on the counter between them.

Realization dawned in Davey’s eyes and he nodded. “Jack said you were a reporter. I thought that your last name was Pulitzer though?” He had glanced at her byline and noticed the discrepancy between that and what Spot had been calling her Sunday afternoon.

“Pen name. My dad has a lot of pull in the world of journalism and I wanted to make it on my own merits so professionally I’m Katherine Plumber but legally it’s Katherine Pulitzer.”

Davey nodded. “I remember you mentioning something about not wanting to be associated with your dad.”

“Yeah, I mean that’s also very true cause he’s kinda a dick,” Katherine shrugged.

“What?” he asked with a laugh.

“Yeah. He hated when I dated Jack, mostly because he disliked that Jack was so openly bi and was really vocal about his political opinions and really there’s a whole list but those are the big ones. Especially once I told him I was also bi and had a lot of opinions that he didn’t agree with. We didn’t talk for a while,” Katherine ended with a shrug. Just because she loved her dad didn’t mean she had to agree with him or necessarily like him.

“I’m not sure how to respond to that,” he told her honestly.

“I don’t expect you to. Anyway, I just wanted to let Sarah know that the article came out yesterday.”

“If you’ll wait a second I’ll grab her? She’s in the workroom putting this morning’s delivery from the wholesalers away.”

“Oh, uh, sure.” As Davey turned away Kath’s mind started reeling. Maybe Sarah would find it weird that Kath had come to drop off the article. She hadn’t done that with any of the other florists she talked to yesterday. Maybe Sarah had already seen the article. Maybe she hated it. Maybe Kath should just leave the paper on the counter and run before Sarah saw her. Yeah, she should definitely run. So Katherine did just that. In a few strides she had crossed the space back to the door and was outside in the midmorning sunshine, hurrying away from the flower shop before the Jacobs siblings could try and catch up to her.

The next day was spent by Katherine mentally kicking herself. As was the day after that. By Thursday lunch though she had a new plan of action. Jack Kelly. He was absolutely hopeless around Davey, who would also be at the flower shop. If she could convince him to come with and let him make a fool of himself then maybe Sarah wouldn’t notice how much of an absolute mess she was. So she texted him asking if he would go on an adventure with her after work. Never one to turn down adventure he agreed and when she met him outside her office at three he was eager to go.

They joked as they walked, falling into an easy banter. As they got closer to Petal Peddlers Kath began to feel guilty. She pushed it aside though, Jack would be fine and she was planning on buying him flowers as a thank you anyway.

As soon as they walked in Jack was as overcome by it all as she had been. She glanced at where Davey was once again standing behind the register, he looked dumbstruck and Kath’s guilt creeped back in. Before he could say anything though Jack had lunged towards the houseplant display and began talking animatedly.

“Kath, ohmyod Kath. Look at the little cactus! It’s tiny! And it’s got its own little pot and everything,” Jack was pointing it out to her with a smile.

“I thought that you already had one?” she chuckled. Their friends all knew how he had wanted to run away to Santa Fe as a kid, now though he just really wanted to visit and bring back some paintings, memories, and on occasions when he was spectacularly drunk the list included a horse.

“Nah, Race keeps saying he’s going to get me one since I’m such a prick, but he never does.”

She snorted and grabbed the tiny potted cactus off the shelf. “Well now you can tell him that I beat him to it.”

“Did you seriously drag me down here just to buy me a cactus?” Jack raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.

“No. I thought you might like this place, that it might inspire the artist in you,” Katherine flipped her hair haughtily and stared Jack down.

He responded by sticking his tongue out at her, to which Kath slowly crossed her eyes. A snort from Davey caused them to both jump and snapped them out of it. Jack finally noticed the other boy and immediately blushed.

“Davey! I, uh, didn’t know you worked here!” Jack tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace and while he tried to sound lighthearted his voice was definitely strained. He shot Kath a downright murderous glare before walking stiffly towards the counter.

Katherine hid her smirk by turning her attention to the small collection of figurines set out on a table. Jack and Davey were talking in low voices when Kath heard the floor creak behind her, figuring that it was just from one of the boys shifting their weight she ignored it. So, when someone spoke Katherine jumped and whirled around with wide eyes to see Sarah standing there grinning sheepishly.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said, her eyes still shone with laughter and Katherine felt her heart start to speed up.

“No, no. You’re fine. I’m good. Well I’m a bit of a mess but still better than Jack,” Katherine teased lightly, gesturing towards where he was stuttering and stumbling in front of Davey.

Sarah grimaced, shaking her head as they both watched Davey’s ears become increasingly redder. “They’re beyond help.”

Kath laughed, glad she wasn’t the only person to notice that Davey genuinely seemed to like Jack back.

“So what happened the other day?” Sarah turned to her, tilting her head slightly as she studied Katherine.

Now it was Kath’s turn to blush. “I, um, got a call. From work. I’m really sorry but it was a bit of an emergency and-” Katherine had been talking with her hands as she rambled, a bad habit that she thought she would never grow out of and had went to wring them together only to forget about the cactus that she was holding for Jack. Which meant she had just slammed her hand into its sharp needles and was now biting her lip to keep from screaming at the sudden pain. And in front of the girl that Kath was willing to admit she was crushing on.

Sarah had seen the whole thing and after a second of shock moved into swift action. Grabbing Katherine by the wrist of her injured hand and tugging her through a doorway into a back room.

“Is everything ok?” Davey asked as they hurried past. Jack shot her a worried look.

“I’ve got it,” Sarah just called over her shoulder and immediately headed towards a sink in the room’s back corner. Katherine couldn’t focus on anything else besides the pain in her palm and the warmth of Sarah’s hand on her wrist. Her heart was racing as she stopped in front of the sink, Sarah shoving a stool towards her and ordering Katherine to sit.

She was still holding the cactus in her uninjured hand and settled it on the lip of the sink as Sarah brought over her own stool and pulled a metal tin off of the shelf on the wall. Katherine could feel her whole face heat up as Sarah gently took Kath’s hand in both of her own and frowned down at the short needles sticking out of it.

“This might hurt,” Sarah warned, pulling a set of tweezers out of the tin. Kath made a noise that was meant to be an ‘ok’ but came out as more of a whimper. Sarah met her eyes with a soft smile, prompting Kath’s breath to catch before she began to nod. Carefully Sarah began removing the needles from Kath’s palm one-by-one and dropping them in the sink. She then had Kath wash her hand before Sarah put some Neosporin on it before carefully bandaging it with an overlarge pad that Katherine’s mother used to give her whenever she scraped her knees.

“You’ll have to be careful, that’s a bad spot for an injury,” Sarah told her and began packing up the first aide kit.

“Thanks. And I’m sorry about that. It was really dumb of me.”

Sarah waved her off. “That sorta thing happens all the time around here. My hands have been sliced open by rose thorns, pocket knives, wire, glass, on one memorable occasion a shattered plastic bucket…” Sarah laughed and Kath joined her. “It’s what the first aide kit is for. You wanna see the bucket scar?” Sarah asked with a mischievous eyebrow wiggle and Katherine found herself laughing once again.

“Of course!”

Sarah held out her left hand and indicated to a slightly jagged white line on the heel of her palm. “That one right there. Still don’t know how I did it.” Sarah’s hands were rough, with callouses and small scars; her nails cut short and the purple polish on them all but gone. Hesitantly Katherine reached out and touched the scar, Sarah froze for a second and both girls held their breaths.

“You ok?” Davey asked, poking his head into the workroom and breaking the moment. Katherine quickly pulled her hand back and Sarah let hers’ drop.

“Yeah. I think I’m going to give Katherine a little tour while she’s back here,” Sarah rose to her feet and started to kick the stool back toward the corner she had grabbed it from. “And maybe teach her the right way to care for a cactus,” she teased.

Katherine laughed, her nose scrunching slightly as she did. “Actually, I’m buying it for Jack so maybe Davey should teach him.”

“Um, no. I can rattle off the care instructions but somehow my influence is still going to kill it,” Davey sounded adamant and Katherine suddenly remembered Sarah saying something about how her brother was a terrible florist during the interview.

Sarah rolled her eyes and shoved the plant toward him. “Just go flirt with him for crying out loud.” Davey’s ears turned red and he scowled at his sister but took the cactus and returned to the front room where Jack was probably waiting to hear how Katherine was. Sarah sighed and turned back to Katherine. “Anywho, this is the workroom. The counters are where we make the arrangements and unpack boxes and what not. Sink, backdoor and porch for deliveries, storage room for vases and non-perishable products. That’s the phone and lastly the walk-in cooler which you saw the front of already.”

Katherine nodded as she took in the space. There seemed to be spray bottles, clippers, and glue guns on every counter and everything seemed to be coated in a fine layer of dirt and glitter. It was small but not cramped, the four counters arranged to maximize floor space and it seemed that all the cabinets were meticulously labeled.

“I know it’s not as pretty as the front of the shop but truthfully this is where the magic happens.” The girls both giggled at that.

“I honestly don’t know what I was expecting but I love it here. But, um, I thought you mentioned that there was a couple employees?” Kath asked awkwardly. It looked like there was just Sarah and Davey running the place for now.

“Slow day, I sent the other two home and my parents will be coming in soon too,” Sarah shrugged and leaned against a counter. The door to one of its cabinets was coated in hot pink glitter and looked like someone had used black spray paint and stencils to spell out ‘Sarah’ on it.

“I’m guessing that’s where you work,” Kath smirked, gesturing to the cabinet door.

Sarah threw her head back as she laughed. “Yeah. It was the rest of the shop’s ‘congrats on finally being put on payroll’ present to me.” She smiled like it was a fond memory. “I was going through a bit of a phase. Watched way too many makeup tutorials online and it was affecting the amount of glitter in my life. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to realize that I wasn’t watching them because I wanted to look pretty but because _they_ were pretty. Had I figured that out sooner there would be a lot less awkward pictures of me floating around.”

Katherine joined Sarah in laughing but internally she was jumping up and down screaming. She was gay! Or bi! She was into girls! Kath had a shot! She wasn’t going to immediately be turned down on account that she wasn’t a guy! Granted, she was probably never going to build up the courage to ask Sarah out in the first place. And if Katherine did then there was about a million other reasons why Sarah might immediately turn her down. But still, it was something.

“Uh, Kath?” Jack stood in the doorway to the workroom, hovering there glancing between her and Sarah. “Did you check your phone?”

Katherine began to reach for where it sat in her coat pocket. But Jack continued speaking.

“Race and Spot are getting in trouble in Queens and we need to go parent them.”

Katherine rolled her eyes as she sighed. “Of course they are,” she muttered. She gave Sarah an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, my friends are a mess and if we don’t go find them they’ll probably get themselves arrested or beat up or beat up and arrested.”

Sarah smiled and waved her off. “Go, save the world.” She ushered Kath back to the front room where Jack shot her a guilty look. She just bumped her hip against his and walked over to where Davey had stationed himself behind the counter again. He had boxed up the injury inducing cactus and grinned at her sheepishly.

“How much do I owe ya?” Katherine asked, pulling her wallet out of her purse.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sarah interjected, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her apron.

Katherine glanced between the siblings. “You sure?”

“Absolutely,” Davey added, pushing the box toward her. She picked it up with a smile and immediately passed it to Jack.

“Thanks, but I’m not going to take any more responsibility for it. It’s officially Jack’s now.” They all laughed and Jack picked up the box, from the looks of it there was a paper with care instructions slipped inside it.

He hugged it to his chest and shrugged. “I always wanted a pet but Crutchie doesn’t trust me with one, not that I blame him.”

Kath saw Davey roll his eyes at Jack’s dramatics but there was a twist of a smile on his lips. “Don’t you two have to go save Race and Spot from Queens or something?”

Katherine laughed as she and Jack backed towards the door. “Didn’t you know? Spot Conlon is the king of Brooklyn and Racetrack Higgins is the king of New York, if anything we’re going to save Queens form _them_.”

The four of them laughed again and Kath and Jack ducked out of the shop, waving goodbye. Once they were a little ways down the block Jack let out a huge breath culminating in an empathetic “Shit.”

Katherine glanced over at him and they headed down into the subway station. “You could?”

He made a strangled noise and clutched the boxed cactus closer to his chest. “I- it’s just- he- gah.”

“Same,” Katherine said with a sigh. She rubbed absentmindedly at the bandage on her hand.

“Oh c’mon Kath, she is so into you,” Jack rolled his eyes as they waited for the train.

“First, she’s not. Second, even if she was I made a complete fool of myself. I’m ruined Jack.”

“You made a fool of yourself?” Jack laughed. “You full well knew how I was going to react.” He shot her a dirty look.

Katherine smirked, biting her lip in an attempt to hide it but he knew her too well. “Ok, so maybe I did,” she knew she sounded smug but she couldn’t help herself. At the very least she was focusing on something other than how embarrassing she was.

They got on the subway and rode in silence, both of them cringing as they replayed the events of the afternoon in their heads. They got off at the end of the line in Queens, meeting Crutchie and Smalls.

Apparently, Smalls and her girlfriend Sniper were supposed to meet up with Spot and Race to play pool at some bar in the Bronx but Sniper had told them about the new bar that had opened in Queens with supersized Jenga and suddenly the three had gone rogue. Smalls had called Crutchie, who knew to call for reinforcements in the form of Jack and Kath. At least they were supposed to be the cavalry, now at close to nine pm on a Thursday Kath was holding Race’s beer as he and Spot tried to trash talk Smalls and Sniper; Crutchie was documenting the night’s events on his phone and Jack was an equal opportunity heckler.

At some point in the night Jack had relayed the events of his and Kath’s afternoon, Racetrack and Crutchie were far too amused by their misfortune in her opinion. They were also overly supportive of Jack’s far-fetched plan to get ask Davey out by having him help set Katherine and Sarah up. It was by this point in the night that Kath decided to head home, Spot and Race were sulking and Smalls and Sniper were gloating and she was tired of Jack plotting her love life while Crutchie just laughed at them. So Kath said her goodbyes and promised to meet up with them over the weekend.

Kath made her way to Jacobi’s Deli as she did every Sunday, she was early and scoped out a prime booth. She fiddled with her phone as she waited for the boys. The door opened and Kath glanced up, immediately freezing. Coming into the deli was Sarah with the boys close behind. Katherine watched as she scanned the tables and her eyes fell on Kath, waving at her and grinning. Katherine waved back and reminded herself to breathe.

“Hey!” Sarah smiled and slid into the booth next to Katherine. The weather had finally let up some and Katherine couldn’t help but notice how pretty Sarah was in her long, flowing sundress and jean jacket with her long brown hair piled up on the top of her head.

“Hi. I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Kath admitted, suddenly wishing she was wearing a nicer outfit. Not that her romper and tights weren’t cute, they were just old and her favorite and it showed.

The boys all piled into the booth after Sarah, a couple more pulling tables and chairs over, reassuring Mr. Jacobi that they’d be putting them all back.

Jack slid in next to her and she shot him a look but didn’t ask about Sarah. Saying, “So did both teams decide to come get lunch today or just half of New York?”

Jack shoved her lightly as he laughed. “I won!”

“That doesn’t answer the question,” Kath rolled her eyes at him and shared an exasperated glance with Sarah.

“C’mon Katherine, you know you’ve missed us,” Romeo teased from the other end of the now long table.

“Well of course. Except Race, I never miss him,” she shot Race a winning smile only for him to flip her off in reply. Everyone laughed and slowly but surely menus were being passed around. The teasing continued and Katherine relaxed into the easy banter, even with the constant thought of Sarah sitting right beside her.

“So,” she finally started once everyone had gotten their food. “What brings you to lunch? Not that I’m not happy you’re here, just surprised.”

Sarah finished chewing her bite of sandwich as she nodded. “Tony- um, Racetrack, invited me to come with to frisbee with David when he came in on Friday. I’m _awful_ with frisbee but I don’t think that David and I have done anything together that didn’t involve the shop or family in actual months so I decided to tag along,” Sarah shrugged and then blushed slightly. “Plus, he mentioned you would be here and that really sold it.”

Kath’s brain practically misfired at that. Sarah had wanted to see her? Her? Katherine Pulitzer? Impossible. And yet. But then she realized what else Sarah had said.

“You know Race?” she asked, suddenly confused and very suspicious.

“Yeah. You remember how I told you about the family who come in every Friday to get something for their partners? That’s him. He’s who invited David to frisbee in the first place.”

“Huh,” Katherine made a mental note to murder Racetrack Higgins later. “So did you enjoy the game?”

Sarah laughed and nodded. “Oh it was pure entertainment.”

“I haven’t gone in ages, I normally sleep in on Sundays because depending on the assignment I have to work on Saturday.”

“That makes sense. If you can you should come next week, we can laugh at them together,” Sarah suggested.

“I’d love that,” Kath replied honestly.

“Great! It’s a date,” Sarah grinned and turned back to her sandwich. Kath’s stomach flipped and she stiffened. Beside her Sarah noticed. “Katherine? Are you ok?”

She cleared her throat and nodded before stopping. “Uh, did you um, mean? To that it’s a date?”

Sarah blushed profusely. “Not if you don’t want it to be?”

“No, no. I mean, yes. I mean, ugh.” Katherine shook her head in frustration. “I would love to go on a date with you,” she finally managed to get out, feeling her face turn red as all the guys turned to listen in on their conversation.

“Oh great. I wanted to ask you out last weekend during the interview but like, you were working and that’s a jerk move. Then you came into the shop but both times you had to leave,” Sarah shook her head and looked down at her lap as she blushed.

Katherine giggled. “I’ve been trying to convince myself to just woman up and ask you.”

The two girls dissolved into laughter. “Oh for cripes sake, just kiss already!” Spot yelled at them from the other side of the booth. They both blushed and then began wadding up napkins to pelt him with as around them everyone else laughed.

Kath waited outside as Davey and Jack were joking around and organizing the boys as they rearranged the deli tables again. At some point they had stopped being the two most awkward humans around each other and were actually really amusing. She and Sarah had long ago exchanged phone numbers, realizing the absurdity of the one tracking the other down at work any time they wanted to talk. Now they were leaning against the warn brick and laughing.

“So I totally want to come to watch those dorks play frisbee with you, but I was wondering if you’d want to go out to dinner at some point this week too? My treat,” Kath smiled, still nervous in spite of everything.

“I would love that,” Sarah beamed. They made plans and slowly the boys filed out past them in twos and threes. Saying goodbyes and wishing them luck on their date.

At long last Jack, Crutchie, Davey, Race, and Spot left the deli; waving and laughing over their shoulders. Race was fishing his car keys out of his pocket as they all walked towards where he had parked. Other than her dad he was the only person in all of Manhattan that had his own car and the ridiculous dork seemed to drive it everywhere. Spot said a gruff goodbye and immediately hopped into the passenger seat.

Katherine rolled her eyes but smiled. Her expression fell though as she narrowed her eyes to glare at Race. “So,” she started slowly. “You wanna tell us how long you knew Davey and Sarah were twins and worked at the shop I interviewed for my article or no?”

Jack blinked and looked at Race. “You knew?”

Crutchie laughed then. “The only reason you didn’t is because you’re oblivious, Jack.”

Now it was Katherine’s turn to be surprised. “Et tu, Charlie!”

“Hold up, you let the two of us bitch and moan and didn’t say anything?” Jack was practically yelling.

“And that’s my cue, Crutchie! Get in!” Race lunged around to the driver side of his car as Crutchie threw himself into the backseat.

As Race started his car Spot rolled down the window and yelled “You can’t expect us to do all the heavy lifting!” as they drove away.

Katherine was doubled over in laughter and Jack was still glaring after the car. The Jacobs siblings looked utterly confused. “Uh, what as that about?” Davey asked when Jack and Kath didn’t explain anything.

“Jack just learned you guys were related on Thursday and we both may or may not have waxed poetic in the group chat,” Katherine said with a wince.

Sarah laughed and grabbed Katherine’s hand to squeeze as she did so. “Oh you should so kill them.”

**Author's Note:**

> The Jacobs's shop is completely fictional, if there is a shop by that name then I didn't know. It's just clever. Like the Jacobs's, my family's shop is family owned and operated and my mom is a second generation florist, I'm like Les and have no intentions of going into the floral industry but growing up in it means you do learn a thing or two. Mostly how to scrub buckets and the proper way cut flower stems. 
> 
> In my mind Kath is a news writer and in a major paper like The Sun there would be an entertainment writer to cover it but plot device and let's just say it was a really busy weekend for the entertainment section. 
> 
> As a note, the floral industry is currently dying with the rise of online companies and floral departments in grocery stores family owned shops are being forced to close. Flowers can be for anyone, for any occasion and if you go to your local florist they'll be able to make exactly what you're looking for even if you have no idea what it is you're looking for. The flowers will last much longer and you'll get top notch customer service. So please support your local businesses!


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